Star Light Hero
by sk.ppy
Summary: Santana and Brittany go on a camping trip with Puck and Quinn. Their vacation is cut short by a trio of boys.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Disclaimer: Glee doesn't not belong to me.

Trigger warning of abuse/rape. Drug usage [alcohol and marijuana]. Don't read if you have problems with that.

Brittany is always seen as weak, but she isn't.

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**Star Light Hero**

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Surprisingly it wasn't too difficult to convince Santana that camping with Quinn and Puck would be fun. In fact, she seemed to enjoy the idea.

A part of me was disappointed. I had practiced a perfect pout, and a great little whining rant just for the occasion.

Santana's arm squeezing around my waist broke me from my thoughts. The girl could really sleep anywhere.

I brushed her hair out of her eyes, I wanted her to be completely comfortable. And I think she was. Her head buried into my stomach, resting in my lap with her arms wrapped around my waist, lost somewhere in her dreams.

"Babe chill, I don't need a map. It's all up here." I glanced up to the front to watch Puck and Quinn bicker.

The old Chevy Suburban growled up the steep hill. Technically we were on a state highway, but to me it looked more like the middle of the woods.

"I know for a fact that you're an idiot. That's why we're stopping at the next gas station and asking for directions." Quinn huffed, and I barely managed to contain a giggle. I've heard that line more than a few times.

Santana squirmed in my lap, trying to get impossibly closer to me. She had fallen asleep basically as soon as we got out of her drive way at eight this morning. She tried to sleep against the door, but I didn't want her to have any muscle cramps later so I coaxed her into my lap.

After ensuring that Santana was still blissfully asleep, I put my focus back to the open window to watch the trees fly past me.

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It wasn't long before Puck slowly pulled into a gas station, saying that "the tank was getting low."

Quinn jumped out of the truck and marched into the station while Puck filled the tank. I didn't want to wake her, but I didn't know if Santana would want something from that gas station or not.

I leaned down and shook her shoulders, "Santana wake up honey."

For all the noise that had been made, the radio blaring, Puck yelling, Quinn bitching, and the doors rattling at every bump; Santana was dragged from her slumber by my soft voice. She was a heavy sleeper, and the fact that I was the one that could wake her so easily brought me some sort of pride.

I was greeted with a mumbled, "whatrdaya want?" and a kiss to my stomach.

"We're at a gas station do you want me to get you anything?"

Santana flipped onto her back to stare up at me. The bench seat wasn't long enough to let her fully stretch out, so she stuck her bare feet out the window.

She lifted her hand up to cup my cheek, lazily stroking her thumb across it sending a warmth into my chest.

"All I need is right here."

I smiled and she sat up to press her warm lips to mine. The taste of her lip gloss made me crave more so I ran my tongue over her bottom lip, enjoying both the flavor and texture of her.

"Yo, stop lez'n up my back seat." I whipped my head around to face Puck in the window. I had forgotten that he was even there.

"Fuck off Puckerman." Santana gave him the finger only to have him laugh and walk off to find Quinn. There were times where I wouldn't mind smacking Puck in the head.

Santana plopped back down into my lap and curled into my stomach again.

I threaded my fingers through her loose hair, while she lifted my shirt to pepper my stomach with kisses. Santana had quite a few favorite spots, but I think that my stomach was near the top of her list.

As I enjoyed her teasing I heard a car pull up to the pump besides us.

It was an old model. And from the sound of it, the engine needed as much repair as the rusty body. Two older boys literally climbed out of the windows, which was kind of cool.

Something felt off about them, so I kept my eye on them. Maybe it wasn't them, but the fact that a lot of horror movies started out like this. A small group of friends camping in the middle of the woods, stopping at a rundown gas station for directions, and then some psycho jumps out with a chain saw.

It was text book.

From my peripherals and keeping my hand untangling Santana's hair, I watched them circle around the truck to go inside the station. When they got to the door one of them stopped and elbowed the other saying something I couldn't hear and they both looked over to the truck. I heard them whistle and caught the last of their conversation before they went inside.

What they said wasn't unusual, but it stilled my hand in Santana's dark hair.

It was a lewd comment about my girlfriend's legs. Sure she was dangling them out the window, but it wasn't an invitation. I'm glad San didn't hear it. I wish that I hadn't heard it either. Then I wouldn't be feeling the need to shove a bullfrog up their ass. Why a bullfrog? They're big and gross I reasoned.

"What's wrong baby?" Santana cracked an eye open to peer up with.

"Do you think there'll be frogs at the river?" I didn't bother to look down at her; instead I smiled to Quinn who looked very displeased. By the way Puck wasn't even trying to hide his smirk, I'd have to say that Puck had proven to be right. For once at least.

Santana's response was cut short by Quinn and Puck climbing back into the truck.

"See babe, I knew exactly where I was going." Puck started the truck with a smirk and peeled out of the parking lot.

"Sure you did." Quinn buckled her seat belt and crossed her arms.

Puck started the SUV and it grumbled out onto the open road.

We were headed to some camp ground that Puck's family vacationed at years ago when he was young. It was nearly a three and a half hour drive, and apparently had a pretty cool river. I was looking forward to jumping off rope swings and rocks, while Santana was happy to lay in the sun.

The place, I don't remember it's name something about mills, maybe windmills.

_Maybe that donkey guy will be there._

It was supposed to be off the radar so that we'd have the camp to ourselves mostly. My mom was against it at first, but I was going to New York in the fall so I didn't see what the big deal was. I barely won that argument.

My mom was worried that we'd get into trouble, but Puck said that it was completely uninhabited. Like, no one really lived around there except hicks. As we drove through the thick forest, scarcely passing houses I believed him. I told her that I could take care of myself, and if anything bad happened San, Quinn, and Puck were there.

Santana fell asleep in my lap again. I could tell by her soft exhale on the skin where she had been kissing. Even in her sleep she managed to torture me.

I propped my head on my arm on the open window and let my eyes flutter close. Quinn and Puck's conversations were boring and seeing that my gossip buddy was passed out, there wasn't much else to do.

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><p><strong>tbc<strong>

**AN: **Let me know what you all think. The next chapter will be posted later.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Thanks for the comments. Here's the second chapter, hope you enjoy it.

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**Star Light Hero**

**Part II**

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A partially hard bump, maybe a giant worm hole, sent me into the air.

My knee jerk response to being thrown up was to tighten my hold on Santana. The metal roof met the crown of my skull causing me to see stars for a moment.

I rubbed my head, bringing my hand down to check for blood. Thankfully the skin wasn't broken, but it felt like it. Hot and throbbing. Santana was jostled, but she remained in her dreamland. Her only protest was a mumble.

"Fuck Puck!" Quinn yelled from the front, I looked up to see her holding the top of her head. I guess even if I did have my seatbelt on it wouldn't have saved me from a bruise.

"Sorry! We're almost there though." Quinn berated him while I glared at him from the back seat.

The dirt road had proven once to be treacherous so I thought that it would be in Santana's best interest to be awake for the rest of the drive.

Quinn turned around to check on me and Santana. "How did she sleep through that?"

"I make a very good pillow." I shook her shoulders, "wakey wakey!"

Santana rubbed her eyes and I pushed her up into her seat.

"What? Are we there?" She glanced around with blurry eyes.

"No, almost though." She dropped her head onto my shoulder. The next second Puck hit another hole, sending my shoulder into her head, and her head down into my shoulder.

She squeaked and rubbed her temple.

"Are you ok? It's bumpy." I kicked Puck's seat, while I held Santana's head in my hands.

"Yeah I'm fine." Santana pulled out of my grasp and scooted up in between Puck and Quinn's seats. "So this is it huh?"

"Yup. Ladies may I present to you Mineral Mills."

I peered around Puck's head. The gravel road had opened up into a pretty standard, but small, camp ground. We rolled slowly pass a dilapidated guard shack. Apparently there would be no park rangers to worry about, and I think that was one of the main reasons for driving so far out of the way.

Not that I cared much. It was just more time to spend with Santana, Quinn, and Puck before the fall. The camp spots were surprisingly well kept and the whole ground was shaded by large trees. I guess we were really camping in the forest.

"Hey... where's the river?" I poked Puck's shoulder.

_I was promised water. _

Puck drove down the small gravel road through the camp ground and pointed towards Quinn's window. "The camp sits up on the bank; down that way is the river."

"Can we go swimming now?" I slumped back into my seat, dangling my arm out my window.

There were a few other people milling around the camp grounds. Hopefully we'd be left to our vices, those being Puck's stolen alcohol and Santana's stash.

Santana patted my leg, "you can jump in the river as soon as we stop."

Quinn turned around in her seat. "Oh no, I am not going to unpack all of your stuff. You two have to set up your own tent and help us get the camp in order."

I frowned out the window, Puck finally picking a spot and backing into the camp, Quinn was a buzz kill sometimes.

"Calm down Fabray, don't get all bitchy just yet."

"I'm not getting bitchy I'm just telling you to-"

Puck killed the engine and turned in his seat to face Quinn and Santana. "Look both of you shut up. Let's just hurry up and set shit up so we can go swimming."

I was never one for participating in verbal spats with Quinn and Santana. So instead of sitting in the hot truck and listening to them fight, I threw open the door and hopped out and took stock of the camp.

There was a weathered picnic table chained to the ground and a large circle of dark rocks. I walked up to the table and sat down facing the truck. I made myself comfortable and watched the show. At least this way I wouldn't have to help unload.

All three of them had climbed out and were shouting at each other. Santana was at the back with Quinn arguing over who's bag was who's. Santana clearly benefited from her nap, she had plenty of energy to fight with Quinn as well as pull out our bags from the truck and toss them to the ground.

I was glad I didn't bring anything breakable, besides from my phone which was tucked into my cutoffs and my sunglasses which were fixed to my face. Quinn was yelling at Puck to pull out the tents while she caught the sacks and piled them neatly in rows.

In a matter of seven death threats, three near break ups, and one disownment; our camping gear was emptied from the truck and sitting in stacks on the ground ready to be set up.

"Brittany! Are you going to sit there all day?" Quinn shouted at me and I just tilted my head.

"She can sit there if she wants!" Santana, my defender, poked Quinn in the shoulder. But she was quick to turn and pout, "Britt can you help set up the tent?"

I chuckled and stood up to brush off my shorts. Santana may want to be perceived as a badass, but she's really just as much of a princess as Quinn was. I gave her a quick kiss on her cheek before I picked up the tent she borrowed from her father.

"Where are we going to put it?" I lugged the box over my shoulder. It wasn't too heavy, it was only a two person tent which was more than enough room for me and Santana.

"Yes Quinn, where shall we place out tent?" Santana pivoted on her heel to face Quinn.

"Nowhere near ours. The further the better."

Quinn pointed to the far corner of the camp, and I wander over to our designated space. I kicked some sticks and rocks out of the way, and then dropped the box to the ground. I crouched down to open it and started pulled out poles, stakes, and finally the tent itself. In the bottom of the box there was a set of crumpled directions picturing finished product of the small dome.

"I'll take that." Santana bent over and stole the paper from me. "I got everything out of the truck, so you have to set that up."

I looked over my shoulder and found Puck in a similar situation, but I wasn't hurling profanities.

"Ok... What do I do with the poles?" I held up the thin black sticks, and Santana found a suitable spot on the ground to sit and order me around.

"First you... wait hold on." Santana flipped through the thin packet. I fell back onto my butt; this was probably going to take a while.

It took about twenty minutes for Santana and I to correctly put up the tent and stake it into the ground so it wouldn't go flying off.

"There, see we even beat Puck." Santana unzipped the door and stepped inside. She could almost stand up, which meant that I had no hopes of standing in it. Not that tents were meant for standing in, their primary function was for sleeping.

_And whatever else you could do laying down_.

"Britt go grab our stuff so we can put it away." I skipped off to fetch our things. The faster we unpacked the sooner I'd be swimming.

I had both of our bags strapped around my shoulders and our over sized sleeping bags tucked under my arms along with our pillows, when Quinn called me over.

"Could you pick up the coolers and bring them over to the table?"

"I um..." I shifted the gear in my arms and Quinn quirked her eyebrows.

"Not this second, go put that stuff down first and then get the coolers from the truck. Puck's taking forever."

"Right." I continued over to my tent nearly tripping over a branch.

Santana was unzipping the windows to air out the smell that resulted from spending too much time stuffed into a box forgotten in the back of a garage. I kinda felt bad for the tent.

"Here, Quinn wants me to move stuff." I didn't really feel like stepping into the tent, I could feel the temperature difference from hovering in the doorway.

"Well come back, I have a surprise." I nodded quickly and sat the bags inside the tent and rolled the sleeping bags into the corner.

We had two coolers a big red one with our food and a smaller one devoted to the liquor and beer Puck brought. I pulled them closer to me and picked up the red one. It was really heavy and I thought it was going to dislocate my shoulder, but Cheerios taught me that physical pain was nothing. I retrieved the second cooler and sat it next to its friend on the ground by the table.

"Thanks Brittany. They were too heavy for me." Quinn was organizing the food stuff and cleaning off the grill. She could have got the little one, but I guess this is what you get for traveling with princesses.

"You should try carrying people around." A while ago I told Santana that I would carry around Artie and she demanded the same. I was looking pass the whole he can't walk argument, but I drew the line at carrying her into the kitchen for snacks. That was just too lazy.

"What?" Quinn questioned behind me, but I opted to ignore her.

Santana said she had a surprise for me.

She was sitting in the middle of the tent, the giant sleeping bags taking up almost of the space in the tent. In the limited amount of time she had also changed into her white swim suit, and soffe shorts.

"Come on in, you're gonna freak." She patted the spot next to her and I basically fell into the tent.

I had my eyes closed waiting for my surprise. Maybe it was candy, or better yet she brought a toy with her.

"I didn't say close your eyes... But stay like that." I felt something tickle my nose and I pulled back fearing that something was about to hit me in the face.

I opened my eyes to peer down into the plastic baggy thrust into my face. "This isn't a surprise, I knew you brought pot."

"Did you not smell that?" Santana retracted the bag, containing a few nuggets and four prerolled joints.

"Let me smell..." She handed me the bag and I took a deep breath of the weed. "Whoa."

"That's better. This stuff here cost me a pretty penny." She smirked and took the bag back to take out two joints.

"Are you sure you didn't burrow that from your cousin?" I pulled my gym bag to me to get out my yellow swim suit and store my phone.

Santana sat up to zip the door close, and shuffled through my bag to find a lighter since my bag was technically her bag. I didn't pack too much, so I had extra space as Santana put it.

She scoffed, "no Ricky owes me and he was feeling generous." She lit the smaller one and took a few drags from it before coughing slightly and passing it to me. "Very generous."

"Well that was nice of him." I pulled off my shirt and bra, pausing to take another hit. Santana attempted to hide her leering by pulling her hair up into a ponytail, but she was never much good at being sneaky.

I smiled brightly at her, the pot wasn't the normal crap she brought and it was quickly taking hold.

Putting my bikini top on wasn't too hard, but the limited space of the tent was proving difficult for removing my shorts. That and I was already high. I tried to begin standing but I ended up falling down into the fluffy padding of the sleeping bags. All I had accomplished was kicking off my flip flops and unbuttoning my shorts.

"Why don't you just lie back?" I toppled backwards at Santana's suggestion. I wasn't able to stretch out as I wanted too, but I did manage to push off my shorts and panties despite the awkward position.

Santana watched my struggles in a fit of giggles while holding the joint out to me.

"You're loving this aren't you." I pulled up my bottoms and my denim shorts.

"No I love you. This-" She gestured to the space around me "however, is hilarious."

I pouted and took the final drag, the embers stinging the tips of my fingers. "It's all burny…"

Santana took the roach from me and kissed my cheek.

"Aww, my poor lil B. I didn't mean it. Let me make it better." I allowed her to pull my face into her bosom as she peppered the top of my head with kisses. Her skin was moist from the humidity and growing heat of the tent, but that didn't halt me from placing my own kisses between her breasts.

"We're going down to the river, you two coming?" I could have swore that Quinn's voice rattled the tent, but I was pretty fucked up.

Santana pulled me from her chest and pressed a quick kiss to my lips and made her way out of the tent.

"You wanted to go swimming remember?" Santana stood outside the tent and waited for me.

"Of course I remember. You were holding me hostage." I found the towels and sunblock from my bag and crawled out of the tent.

"Don't act like you didn't enjoy yourself." She tossed the words over her shoulder and sauntered away following Quinn and Puck across the camp grounds to the river.

I forgot how to walk, or the reason why I needed to be going anywhere. I stood sinking into the ground staring. Santana was painting a wonderful picture, a picture that was walking away. My clouded thoughts cleared enough for me to chase after my friends.

Santana held out her hand and I shifted the towels to lace our fingers together.

"This is some pretty potent stuff..." I mumbled the words, I was keeping an eye out for any sharp twigs or rocks that I could step on.

"Are you holding out on me? After all this time?" Puck twirled around whining, the towel slung over his shoulder nearly sliding off.

"No, there's one for you. Here." Santana retrieved the joint from her top and tossed it to Puck.

"Lighter?" He held his hand out expectantly and I saw Quinn huff and mostly heard Santana sigh.

Her hand loosened and pulled from mine, and slipped into my pocket... "I swear you're a toddler." To find a lighter.

"I don't remember putting that in there." I really didn't. Santana smiled and rejoined our hands after putting the cheap lighter back.

It wasn't a long walk to the river, but it was enough for Puck and Santana to finish smoking.

We walked up to the edge of the bank that was basically a cliff. There was a staircase made from railroad ties leading down to the river and metal pipes fashioned into a railing on one side. I don't think it would have been an easy climb up or down if the steps weren't there.

The river was drifting lazily by, it wasn't a strong current from the looks of the surface, but it was fairly wide. Stepping down onto the gravel bank, clearly there would be no sand castles in my near future.

I spied the rope swing hanging down from a monstrous tree that had to been there for nearly a century. The tree was leaning out over the water, and someone had nailed pieces of wood along the trunk to jump off at different heights.

Puck elbowed my shoulder and nodded over to the tree, at least we were on the same page.

"Beat ya to it!" He pulled off his shirt and took off running on the biathlon.

Dropping the towels and lotion into Santana's arms and pulling off my shorts I lunged forwards after him. I was faster than him but I don't know who the stronger swimmer would be.

The rocks dug into my bare feet, but the weed was covering up the pain. Puck was running in the water up to his knees, looking back to grin. He thought he had the lead. Once I was to the water's edge I dove in, scraping my stomach and knees on the bottom, but I closed the gap with Puck.

He took my lead, driving under the surface. My strokes were strong and fast, I was surprising myself. In the middle of the river the current picked up considerably, Puck seemed to be caught off guard and was swept downstream a bit.

I kept my pace, and was able to walk up to the giant tree and sit at its base. Puck took his time, probably mending his pride. Santana and Quinn were on opposite bank, already sunning on the towels. I was kind of disappointed Santana didn't see my victory and Puck's soul crushing defeat.

I'd just tell her about it later.

"Losers first." I gestured to the rope dangling out over the water. I let him have the first go, maybe that would cheer him up.

It was difficult to get the rope since it was hanging over the water three feet in the air, and water was well over our heads. But we got it after throwing five or six sticks at it.

Puck took the rope and flew across the water, dropping in with a splash. I took my turn, though more gracefully than Puck.

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After a few swings Puck climbed up the wooden pegs on the tree to the highest point and swung out over the water. He released the rope and did a back flip into the river.

"Bet you can't top that."

I caught the rope swinging back towards me. "Shssh. I can do like two of those."

"Let see it then." Puck swam up to the dirt bank and sat in the shallow water.

I climbed up to the same point Puck jumped from. It looked much higher than from ground level. Anxiety crept up my spine, and I looked over to Santana. She was sitting up talking to Quinn, but she was focused on watching me.

I released one hand from the coarse thick rope and waved over to her. The action somehow caused me to lose my footing and I was falling through the air, only one hand on the rope.

I grabbed for it with my other, but it was no use. I was swung to the center of the river, the point where I either needed to jump or be tossed back into the tree.

The rope slipped from my hand and I tried my best to complete two rotations, but I ended up with one and a half.

I landed hard on the water with my back. The slap was stinging through the skin and muscles of my back and shooting into my stomach.

Hidden under the water I let out a scream, the bubbles floating to the surface.

Puck stood at the bank clapping with smirk on his face. "Very nice Brittany."

Before I had a chance to tell him to fuck off Santana was stomping through the water.

"Britt are you ok?" She shouted over to me.

I threw a frown at Puck and swam across the river to Santana. She didn't like very deep water so she waited with worry etched on her face in the knee deep water.

I stepped up to her and she immediately took my shoulders and spun me around. "I'm fine, it just stings."

"No, it's all red..." She spun me to face her and hugged her arms around my neck. "Puck what's your problem?"

"She's the one that jumped all crazy like!"

"I was trying to do back flips. Didn't you see?" Santana was always quick to blame other people for me. Sometimes it was cute, other times it wasn't.

"Yeah I did. The first one was good, but the second one was..."

"Coach Sylvester would have your head for it." Quinn offered her critique from her tanning mat.

"What Quinn said." Santana released her grip on me and wadded to the shore.

"I'm gonna go try again."

She rushed me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards her. "Why don't you sit with me for a while?"

"Yeah, let him hang himself with the rope." Quinn sat up to watch Puck fly into the water again, with a small smile on her face. "Besides Santana's been whining about needing a back massage."

Santana gave me a toothy grin and rolled her eyes. "You need some sun block on too or else you're gonna burn."

I looked down to my shoulders and of course they were already turning pink. "Ok, but me first."

Quinn tossed a water proof spray sun block at me. I sprayed my front and let Santana dust the sun block over my back. She rubbed the lotion into my back, while I did the rest.

"Babe your back is all red. Does it hurt?" She floated a hand over the skin, and I bit my lip as I felt another wave of stings run over my back.

I turned around to keep her from grazing it anymore than she had. "It's fine."

She stared down humming, still holding the spray in her hands. "Did you get your stomach?" Her question was followed by a shot of sun block just above my navel.

"I guess it could use two coats."

Her hands were already gliding up and down my stomach. Climbing up just under my breast and then down to the hem of my bottoms. She was completely engrossed in her task, her teeth were chewing her lip and I knew exactly where her thoughts were.

I was happy to let her do whatever she wanted, so I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensations. There was no one on the gravel bar to complain. In fact it was only the four of us at the river. If I cared to look I could find other people down the river, but Santana was being very distracting.

"Could you fondle Brittany somewhere that isn't directly in front of me? I'm trying to watch Puck be stupid."

"Shut up Fabray!" Santana turn around to yell, but left her hands sprawled over my abs.

"San maybe she's jealous?"

Santana scoffed and laid down on her towel.

"Quinn you can rub lotion on my abs if you want, I don't mind." Quinn gapped up at me and I just smiled offering her to go ahead.

"Britt." Santana raised her eyebrows at me.

It was one of the little things I got to enjoy. Creeping out Quinn and screwing with Santana.

"Actually I'm going over to Puck..." Quinn pushed herself off the gravel and shuffled into the water towards the rope swing.

"You need to stop offering yourself to everyone. Those are mine." Santana was laying face down, waiting for her back massage.

I straddled her thighs while I listened to her state which parts of me belonged to her. Instead of bickering with her I leaned down resting against her back, and husked into her ear that she wasn't allowed any ownership because she was "Brittany S. Pierce's property."

She shivered underneath me, the statement doing its job quieting her down.

"Now be quiet. I feel like massaging my property." I sat back up reaching for the lotion, while she squirmed to untie her top.

I poured a small gob into my hands, the cream was already hot from the sun so I didn't waste time rubbing my hands together. I started in the middle of her back, just spreading the lotion around to cover the entire expanse.

Her skin was warm, and unbelievably smooth. My thumbs worked into her shoulders, pressing hard into her muscles, then moving downwards following her spine to the top of her hips. There my fingers would ascend back up to the base of her neck.

"Hmmm B, that feels good." Of course it felt good, I was doing it.

"I have magic fingers." I whispered into the back of her neck and trailed my hands down the side of her ribs, earning me a mewl.

Santana's skin was impossibly slick from the lotion. The feeling was crawling up my fingers and shooting down into my groin. I sat back up, and let my fingers grope the sides of her breast. She hummed and lifted her chest off the ground so that I could have more room to explore. The pads of my fingers found her nipples already stiff. I smirked to myself and palmed her, squeezing and kneading.

"Britt..."

I could feel her chest expanding in an uneven rhythm. I was bringing my head down to kiss along her shoulder, but a commotion at the top of the wooden steps halted my actions.

The drug made me extremely paranoid. At first I thought it was park rangers or something worse, but it was just three boys. I looked up at them, making eye contact with one. I could tell from his body language that he was going to come over here, that simply looking at him invited him to talk to us.

One of my favorite things was talking, but sweet lady kisses were much more enjoyable.

"Why'd you stop?"

"They're coming over here..." I retied Santana's top and sat next to her on the towel, keeping a hand on her back.

"Who?" Santana craned her neck to observe the boys, jumping down the steps and walking over to us. "Fan-fucking-tastic."

"Don't be so grumpy." I slapped her butt, "I'll finish with you later."

She grumbled something, but my attention was on the three boys approaching us.

None of them were bad looking, they were actually pretty hot. They all dressed similarly, colorful board shorts and well toned chests. The only thing to tell them apart was their hair colors and height. It was like they were genetic experiments or something. They looked like the kind of boys that were on the football team… who I would sleep with.

Santana shifted next to me, like she could read my thoughts. I ran my hand over her back. If I ever had to choose, I'd pick her every time. The boys had nothing on Santana. Nothing at all.

"Hey there ladies." The taller boy with short dark black hair greeted us first, his two friends chiming in time with their hellos.

"Hello." I drew my knees under my chin, and scooted closer to Santana.

"I'm Heath and-"

"Go away Heath and friends." Santana dismissed them, not even bothering to look up at the boys. I smiled at her jab.

"This is Mark and Tobi." Her warning only reinforced his smile. I thought that maybe I could get him and his friends to leave.

"I'm Brittany and this is Santana."

Heath smiled at me, but I could see that his target was my girlfriend. I guess they've seen their fair share of blonde blue eye girls. They were probably starved for what Santana offered.

I wished that I had introduced her as my girlfriend, but we were out in the middle of nowhere. My mom told me not to expect the best in everyone.

"Santana is a very... exotic name." Heath crouched down in front of Santana. He was bold, I'd give him that. Santana growled, but didn't actually respond to him.

"Heath is like the candy bar." I tried to get the dude from drooling on her, but he didn't even glance over to me.

Heath's friends, both sandy blondes, leered over Heath's shoulders at Santana. I almost wanted to throw Quinn's towel over her, but I doubted she would have liked that. The whole situation was making me uneasy, the pot wasn't helping either.

"So Santana," just the way he purred out her name made my skin crawl.

"Me and the boys," _He would call his friends 'the boys'._

"Were headed down the river a bit and there's a much better beach there. You and your friend should come."

I tried to hide my glare, but it wasn't like they were looking at me anyway.

There was no way that Santana would even want to move, much less follow these three idiots. My fingers curled around a rock. How badly I wanted to pelt him in the side of the head with it. It wouldn't do much, but it would probably make him leave.

Santana had yet to acknowledge him; she had kept her position laying down facing away from me. I watched a vexed expression cross his face before he spoke to me.

"Did your friend fall asleep?"

His friends laughed, and I glared over to them. Those two, Mark and Tobi were creepy and not just because they looked exactly the same.

"No. She just doesn't like you." The rock I had tucked into my palm, I tossed over my shoulder to the river.

Heath smiled at me, and rose to his full height. I mimicked his action, and I was displeased that he was a lot taller than me. They all were. _Corn fed or however it went._

"That's too bad, we sure do like her." He smirked down at her.

I didn't have anything witty to say. I wished that Santana would say something, but she just kept quiet. Maybe she thought I was handling it well.

It didn't feel like it.

"We'll see you later then." Heath waved his hand to summon Mark and Tobi.

"We'd rather not." The dark haired boy paused for a moment, and smiled over his shoulder at me before he continued walking along the river's edge.

I stood glaring at their retreating forms for few seconds.

Santana stirred next to me, and I looked down to find her sitting staring at Quinn and Puck across the river. I sat down next to her, and dropped my head to her shoulder.

If it had been Puck and Quinn those three idiots approached I doubt it would have been very hard to get rid of them. All it would have taken was an arm over her shoulder and they would have scurried off. But since I'm as threatening as a puppy, I could have been knee deep in her vagina and they wouldn't have cared.

"Do you think that puppies can be scary?" I pushed around the warm tiny pebbles under my hand, exposing the larger cooler ones underneath.

"Sometimes I think. Yeah, they can scare people if they want too." I felt her hand rest over mine and her thumb stroke over my skin. "But I like them better when they're being cute."

_|x|x|x|x|__|x|x|x|x|_

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><p><strong>tbc<strong>

**AN:** Let me know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **This is the last chapter.

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><p><em>|x|x|x|x|<em>_|x|x|x|x|_

**Star Light Hero**

**Part III**

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There isn't much to do stranded in the middle of nowhere. I guess we were lucky that we had a river to occupy most of our time this afternoon. We gave up the rope swing to a brother and sister duo and their parents. After a short nap laying under the waning sun, Puck alerted us that it was food time.

Quinn had been smart to bring a gas grill, but Puck wanted a fire for later. I elected myself to help and search for wood while Santana and Quinn took over dinner.

"I saw some logs at the entrance of the park, we should walk up there. It's not that far." Puck's tanned back turned away from me and he started down the gravel road.

I had changed out of my swim suit into a tank top and shorts and traded my flip flops for a pair of old sneakers that I brought along. Puck also changed out of his trunks and into some shorts, but he loved to flaunt his chest.

The long trek to down the gravel road was pretty much silent, other than my comments about wooden creatures and elves living in the towering trees. There was an old water bottle that we kicked between us while walking up the road, but Puck's strong punt sent it flying into the brush.

"Ah, see plenty of stuff to burn." Puck jumped down into the ditch and pushed a couple logs with his foot.

"Watch out for sleeping bowtruckles..." I slid down the side of ditch, dirt and rocks p` ouring into my shoes.

"Right, I'm going to throw a couple of logs up there so watch out." He picked up a log and hurdled it to the road landing with a thump.

We weren't going to start a fire with giant logs, so I searched around for smaller branches to bring back with us. There wasn't much to be found on the ground so I moved my attention to the lower branches of a dead tree nearby.

I wanted the fire to awesome.

Awesome enough so we could make smores and so when I got drunk later and tried to jump over it Santana would have something to be worried about.

I swung at one of the higher branches, jumping to knock it out of the tree when Puck shouted.

"Britt!"

I made contact with the branch, but Puck distracted me enough to not notice the stick coming down. I tried to jump out of the way; but the splintered end hit my shoulder, peeling back a small patch of skin.

I dropped the stick I was using as a club and clutched my bare and now bleeding shoulder. At the moment I couldn't feel any pain from my shoulder, the sight of white flesh ripped away and oozing red liquid from the small wound was enough to set my jaw.

I carefully pulled the flap of skin to cover the tear, and instantly regretted it. There was bark and dirt covering my hands and some of it transferred into my cut.

"Fuck Brittany, are you ok?" Puck was at my side, pulling my hand away to get a better look.

"Yeah, it's just a scratch. It doesn't hurt too bad." From him pulling my hand away, the pain seared across my shoulder and up my spine.

"Are you sure?" Puck poked near the cut, not only causing it to bleed more but the action made my eyes cross.

_Why the hell would you do that?_

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get back... Quinn probably has something to put on it." I pushed him away and picked what I had collected earlier.

Puck followed me up to the gravel road stomping through the brush. He had five logs, one of which he asked me to carry "if it's not too much for you."

If it was any heavier I would have thrown it at him, but I just nodded and added it to my burden. The balancing act kept my mind off the spasming nerves of my shoulder.

_|x|x|x|x|__|x|x|x|x|_

The walk back was much quicker and it also allowed the cut some time to stop bleeding. That's all I needed, returning to Santana with blood pouring out of me.

As we neared the camp Puck slid up next to me and asked if he was going to be in trouble.

"You didn't make the stick fall... the lizard guy did."

"Yeah, alright. You just remind your lady when she comes at me with a knife in a minute." He visibly flinched at his own premonition and strode past me into our camp.

Santana didn't ever really baby me. Behind closed doors it was the reverse, which I was fine with fetching her whatever she wanted. But the sure way to get her maternal instincts flaring was for me to wander up with something broken. After she was confident that I wasn't going to die, she'd embark on a war path to destroy whatever caused my injury. The first time I sprained my ankle in Cheerios it was cute, but now I've just been fearing for other people's saftey.

I dropped my bundle next to Puck's discarded logs, and went into the truck for the first aid kit he told me was under the backseat.

_She's probably going to set that tree on fire. _

As the thought passed through my mind I faintly heard Puck saying something along the lines of "before you get angry, I didn't..." Wrong thing to say.

The splurge of Spanish profanity I anticipated never came. Curious, I pulled the kit from underneath the seat with much discomfort to my shoulder; and walked over to the old wooden picnic table.

Oh. She was eating.

"Food looks great you two." Puck was already nose deep into his plate. By the nearly clean paper plates it seemed that Quinn and my lovely girlfriend didn't want to wait for me and Puck.

Food would have to wait for me, I had a cut to clean. I took a water bottle from the cooler to clean my hands with. That was enough for Santana to get a glimpse of my cut. From the look of her face, I guessed that Puck severely downplayed my injury.

"Brittany you're bleeding!" There was my Spanish swearing.

I was able to clean my hands before Santana did and same and ordered me to sit still while she bandaged the cut.

Santana dabbed at the tear with a paper towel, which hurt less than the next step. Digging the bark and washing the dirt out of it. Finishing with antibiotic ointment and two bandages. Even though her hands were delicate and carefully the process left me with tears threatening to fall. The kiss she placed over each bandage chased them away, leaving me with only the dull throbbing heat.

She hugged my back, mindful of my shoulder, and mumbled into the top of my head that I "need to be more careful."

"I wanted to get enough wood for a good fire..." Quinn set down a portion of what they made in front of me, burgers, along with a concerned look.

"You should have let Puck handle that." She released me long enough to get a can of soda from the cooler and sit down next to me on the bench.

"I wanted to help."

"Stop getting bent out of shape over a scratch. She's a grown ass woman." For once I agreed with Puck, but I did take a small pleasure in watching Santana slap him in the back of his head.

"I'm just sayin. All she needs is a couple of shots and a few hits of your kindbud and she'll be fine." Puck tossed his place into the trash bag and set about to start the fire. All the while Santana glared at his every move.

It wasn't until Puck was busy with the fire and Quinn cleaning up that Santana asked me if his suggestion would make me feel better.

"I don't know what else we're supposed to do." I let her clear the plate from in front of me while I finished off my soda.

_|x|x|x|x|__|x|x|x|x|_

There were three things to do while camping: eat, drink, and sleep. Maybe a couple other things, but those don't warrant mentioning.

While Santana left to set up a bowl, I decided to get the chairs. We only had three folding chairs between the four of us, but I was happy to give up a seat in favor of leaning against Santana's legs.

Every movement caused some discomfort in my shoulder. I just ignored it, thinking that soon I wouldn't be feeling anything. Anything other than Santana's fingers ghosting through my hair and along my neck. But there wouldn't be any pain.

"Thanks Brittany. Are you sure you don't want a chair?" Quinn dragged over the cooler filled with our chilled beer and offered me a can.

"Yeah this way I can play with the pill bugs." I popped the top and foam spewed from the opening coating my fingers before I had the mind to suck it up.

Beer wasn't my favorite thing to drink, but it was cheap and it did its job. Really I didn't have to be drunk to fool around like I did; however, it was more socially accepted that I was drunk when I ripped off my clothes. And I liked the buzz, so it was win win.

I sat in the chair staring at the small fire that Puck had going. Slowly nursing it into flames that could eat away at the larger logs we gathered earlier. The camp was already dark, and the flames lit up our camp site. The trees hung over our head, like giant fingers craning down to pick us up, but they mostly blocked out the light from the moon.

Once the fire picked up Puck settled into his chair next to Quinn and Santana finally returned from our tent. I sat up and let her take the chair in favor of her legs.

We pasted the pipe between the four of us silently, excluding Quinn, pausing to refill the cashed bowl. Our beer cans littered the edge of the fire twinkling in the light. The drugs masked the pain in my shoulder completely, and let me relax against Santana.

I dropped my head backwards into her lap, staring up through the tree limbs at the clear night sky while she pulled my hair from my ponytail and untangled the knots from swimming. Her fingers worked mindlessly in my hair, every so often scraping my scalp.

If I was a cat, like Tubbers, I'd be purring. I gave my best imitation of the noise while closing my eyes and stretching into Santana to nuzzle her thigh.

"Britt you're not a kitty." She stroked the side of my face with her palm, urging me to face her.

I turned and looked up to her, bright eyes and her lips curled into a soft smile meant only for me. Someone else would have said that the fire's light danced in her eyes, or that the glow from the fire made her look unearthly. I knew the difference.

Santana's eyes weren't reflecting the light. No. She was absorbing it into her, bending in ways that no prism could and then emitting it as her own.

"I wanta go look at the stars." Truly I wanted to get away from Puck and Quinn. Maybe find out if her eyes would change, like I knew they would, under the moonlight.

"Ok, hold on a second." I stood and brushed the dirt and leaves from my shorts. She searched the cooler for her special water bottle. It was probably just filled with vodka she stole from her mom's liquor cabinet.

"Alright." I took the hand she offered me; I always took delight when she did. "We're going down to the river. Try not to make anymore babies."

_|x|x|x|x|__|x|x|x|x|_

The gravel bar, thousands of tiny stones smoothed over from years of tumbling through the river, had retained the heat of the day. The night air was amplified by the cool water rolling down the stream. From underneath the rocks heated my skin of my back, while Santana laying to my left warmed the rest of me.

She brought along another joint with her plastic bottle of vodka. We passed the two between us as we talked about how our lives would change when we got to New York. Santana was the embodiment of excess. She wanted the best and the most, but she also gave the best and most. Whether it be her drugs or her love, it was usually focused on me.

From the river's banks the sky was opened above me. There were no trees to hide the stars, millions more than I have ever seen in Lima. I traced outlines of animals and people in them, pointing them out to Santana as I went. A dog, something that looks like a tea pot, a funny duck.

Her fingers played against mine, lifting my hand to rest on her stomach. A shiver ran through her so I moved closer to her offering her what heat I could. Santana would return my notes in the sky, adding to our giant painting.

I wondered how many people have drawn in the sky as we are now. How people's figures are forgotten with the rise of the sun or a drifting cloud.

Only a few pictures ever really stayed in the stars. But those people were heroes from a long time ago. I wondered what they did to be cast into the galaxy like that. It must have been difficult whatever it was they did. If I ever did anything heroic I wanted to be remembered in the night sky.

"Do you think I could be a hero?"

My question hung in the air between us. With everything floating in my brain I was surprised I even asked.

Santana shifted next to me, crawling to lay half onto of me, lifting my arms and wrapping my arms around herself.

"You're my hero." Her soft voice was louder than the water rushing in the river, and the feeling of her lips against mine ending her admission was just as powerful.

Yet, my thoughts turned into the sense that she was wrong. I couldn't possibly be anyone's hero. There was no way that I could do anything as epic as the gods. Gods save people. I never did anything like that.

She rested her head under my chin. I could feel her even breathes against the skin of my neck.

"I don't think that counts." I mumbled into the top of her head.

She lifted her head to stare down at me. "Of course it counts. I said so."

I supposed that's how the heroes and gods got up there, someone saying so. Even though Santana's word had always been sound and absolute to me, this seemed out of her grasp.

I didn't say anything. How could I tell her she no power over the stars when I didn't even know who did. For all I knew Santana did control the stars, sun, and moon.

_|x|x|x|x|__|x|x|x|x|_

We stayed on the gravel bar for a while. Lazily kissing and squeezing each other. Santana was on top of me, biting my neck and sucking on my pulse.

I whirled my head around at the crushing of gravel behind us. The light from the moon was enough to make out three figures, but a bright white light blinded me.

"Good evening ladies..." The voice was calm, a southern gentlemanly ring to it; but it sent a wave panic through me. It shot me to my feet, pulling Santana along. I felt her quiver and tighten her fingers around my left arm.

The gravel groaned under the weight of our intruders steadily approaching us. I tried my best to focus in my haze of drugs and pin point where the three people were. But it was no use, the light blinded me. I gripped Santana closer to me.

"Midnight dip in the- are we interrupting?"

The light stopped moving, and a dark haired boy walked out into the light. It was Heath, the slime mold from earlier.

Besides me I felt Santana release a heavy breath and pull from my arm.

"Yeah you are. So if you could fuck off that would be great." She stood in front of me stumbling to gain her balance.

"We just wanta hang out." Heath shrugged and looked over to who I assumed to be his friends from earlier.

The light came closer, shining directly into Santana's face. I could see now it was a camera, a crappy one unlike my own. My hands flew to Santana's shoulder as she swung for the camera, she almost fell face first into the rocks.

Santana had three more beers than me and she was primary recipient of both the vodka and weed. I was trashed and she was ghetto blasting. I had no idea what to do.

"Get that light out my fucking face right now or else-" Her second swing ripped the dangling lens cap from the thread of yarn.

"This is expensive..." The light lifted flooding the blonde camera boy's face; he didn't look very pleased to find the cap torn off.

"Stop it." I whispered the words. Not to Santana, not really to the boys either. Maybe someone else who would actually listen. Someone who could have control over this, because it certainly wasn't me.

"You know earlier you were really rude to us. That wasn't very nice." Heath pushed the camera boy away, stepping up to Santana.

"I'm not a nice person." Santana quipped back. It wasn't her best. She was leaning backwards onto my hands on her shoulder to keep up standing up right.

She wasn't able to talk trash, and I was going to have a hard time dragging her back to camp. Three boys hot on our heels wasn't going to make this easier.

_Wait. There's three of them, where's the other..._

The light made searching the gravel bar difficult, but I could see the other blonde guy circling around behind us.

"Santana, maybe we should go back..." I made sure that everyone could hear me. The boys and Santana in her stupor.

There was an awkward tension growing, so I pushed Santana's shoulders in the direction of the wooden stairs. She complied, and we made it a few steps closer.

"You're not going anywhere until we get our apology." Heath jumped in front of Santana, reaching out to her.

"I told you once to fuck off!" It was her breaking point, she twisted my hand from her shoulders and pulled me away from the boys. "Come on Britt."

"I don't think you heard right." The blonde boy, Tobi maybe, shoved Santana hard from behind us. I managed to keep her from falling, but just barely.

I turned around to the three boys, keeping Santana tucked behind me. "Don't touch her!" I felt her hands fumble for my pockets, and I pushed them away. It was _so_ not the time for that.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Heath chuckled like there was nothing I could do to take Santana away from them. Tobi and the camera boy's laughs echoed in my ears.

I was rooted to the spot, a useless barrier between my girlfriend and three creeps.

After the laughter Santana must have collected herself. I felt her push pass me and confront the boys.

"Look I get that you three think you're hot shit right now. But in a minute you're gonna be up chucking your teeth."

"Oh really?" Heath closed the space between them. She's so much shorter than him, it's like she's yelling at Finn. Only this guy isn't Finn, he's some freak.

"Yeah." Santana poked a finger in his chest. I hoped that his shirt was thin enough to feel the sting of her nail, but I doubted it.

"And I suggest that you back the fuck off now before I get serious." The camera circled around us, the other boy shuffling behind me.

"I would love to get serious with you." A wave of nausea hit me, and it wasn't from the weed or alcohol. It was caused by the boy brushing her hair back smirking, and his friends chuckling like hyenas.

"Ha, see now." Santana took a step back and lunged forward shoving him hard. It didn't do much damage, he barely moved. "You're just fucking askin-"

"Watch your fucking language whore." I saw his fist fly through the air, I heard the smack, and I felt my chest tighten; but it unreal.

Santana was doubled over on the gravel, kneeling in the rocks. Her hands were clenched around her mouth.

"San!" My body fell forwards to her. She needed me. She was hurt. But a pair of arms circled my waist and pulled me into a heavy chest.

"Hold it right there blondie." The other blonde boy trapped me against him. I called out again for her, beating his arms; but the grip didn't loosen.

The camera circled around Santana, plunging into her face. "Dude! Heath you busted her lip! Awesome!"

"That's not all we're gonna bust." Heath pushed the smaller boy, "move Mark."

"Let go of me! Santana!" I struggled against the boy. I thought I was free when he released me. However, it was only to spin me around to back hand me.

The force of the cheap shot tossed me to the ground. I fell on my shoulder; the rocks digging into the cut opening it back up. The pain immobilized me from a second and then I felt the stinging of my cheek and the blood weeping there.

_At least she wouldn't be bleeding alone. _

"You think that was anything? I get tossed around harder by my mother!" Santana wobbled up to her feet, wiping the blood from her lips. Her face was contorted in pain and anger, but her eyes. They always gave her away. She was scared, more than I've ever seen.

I tried to push myself off the ground, but a heavy shoe was thrust into my chest. Taking my air and pinning me to the rocks.

"That was just the beginning sweet heart." His voice was eerily calm.

I turned my head to see Heath advance on her again, her face illuminated by the camera's light. I could see the blood, and I could feel her fear.

"It all starts with a touch." Slowly his hand reached out, uncurling his index finger and pressing into the flesh of her nose. He then dragged it down to her bloodied lip, collecting a small amount and bringing it to his lips.

"You already taste good."

My internal mantra was just one word.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit._

The tree stump on my chest wasn't budging. No amount of scratching, punching, or wrenching was breaking the boy's hold on me.

I gave a fleeting glance to Santana, hoping that she would tell me what to do. She looked back to me, and I saw that she on her last leg. Her expression was something like guilty, and I didn't understand until she turned from Heath and made a run for it.

She knew there was nothing she could do to save us. So she ran. She always ran.

When she ran in fear she made mistakes. Like not looking down. Tripping over a piece of drift wood. Knocking her head on a stone.

Heath and the camera strolled over to her, a tangled mess of limbs. I watched as he kneeled next her. I couldn't hear what he said over the river and Tobi's cackling, but I did manage to hear her scream "puu" before her voice was muffled.

Puck would be helpful now, but her calling out to him made me more angry than hopeful that he heard.

I heard dragging and thrashing above my head, I assume it was Santana being brought back over closer to the river.

"Now don't think about running again. Or else things are going to be rough for your friend." My eyes widen and I looked up to my captor.

The boy lifted his foot from my stomach, quickly sending it back down onto my breast. It hurt, but not as much as his fist coming down against my nose with a resounding crack in my ears.

My vision blackout.

"You care what I do with her?"

"Shut up Tobi!"

"I guess that's an ok. Your friend can't be having all the fun."

The only thing I was aware of was the stabbing in my nose and blood coating my fingers.

Once I looked back to Santana she was pinned to the ground. The camera boy was holding her hands above her head, and Heath hovering over her. I could see her shirt was torn, her exposed chest and heaving in the cold night. His hands were mauling her skin, while the camera flew around soaking in every angle.

I moan out her name. Like magically I would find the strength to push this oaf off of me and rescue her.

"You like that?" I whipped my head up, finding the boy pressing himself along my torso.

I shoved him, but he was heavy.

"You like watching your friend." He pushed my head back to watch what was happening to Santana. His right hand pressed my head into the gravel while his other grabbed my breast.

Tears mingled with my blood, seeping between the rocks. Soon to be washed away by the river and forgotten, just like my drawings in the sky.

"San..." I reached out to her, wishing I could make it stop. The boys began slapping her and the strangled gasps where too much for me to bear. I whimpered.

"You're a freak bitch." I ignored his voice the best I could. But his grinding was another thing. Other than what I expected to be poking against me, there was something else pushing into the skin of my thigh. I creeped my hand to the area, my pocket.

_When did that get there?_

I peeked at the boy from the corner of my eye; his mouth was drawn into a sick smile and completely focused upon Santana.

Quickly I shoved my hand into right pocket and closed my fingers around the knife. From the feel of it, slick short handle and the round metal bud that would project the blade out of the casing. It was Santana's switchblade, a la Lima Heights Adjacent, it must have been what she was reaching for earlier.

Tobi's fingers bit into the sides of my face, his other hand tailing down my stomach to my shorts. It was as his hand shoved past my waist band and I watched Heath unbuckled his pants that my apprehension is eradicated.

I pull the knife from my pocket, the blade shooting out hidden at my side. I've never hurt someone, not as I have to now. I certainly didn't want to kill anyone, but where do you even stab someone?

"No!" Santana cries out and the camera boy fastened a hand over her mouth.

"I have to..." I close my eyes and hope that I can do this. I have to, for Santana and for me.

The hand on my face presses me further into the gravel, while the other pushes roughly inside of me. "What the fuck are you babbling about? You likin' this-"

What was probably supposed to end in a dirty question turned into a harsh cry.

I plunged the knife into his open armpit. The blade made it easy to slide deep into his cavity, so much so that I wasn't sure I had done it right.

I swiped at his face as he pulled away from me, catching his brow and nose. I kicked him hard in the groin and jumped up. He crashed down into the rocks and curled into himself. Hopefully he would stay down.

The boy holding the camera looked over, but made no move to stop me. He just warned, "Heath, Heath, Heath that girl..."

I ran up to the three, they haven't gotten very far yet. Santana was pinned underneath the two with tears and blood trailing down her face. It was added fuel to my adrenaline. I was surprised I controlled myself from sinking the knife into his head, seeing her like that.

I grabbed Heath. Wrapped my arm around his neck and pulled him back onto his knees, off of Santana; and pressed the blade into his neck. The sweat on his skin mingled with the blood from his friend on Santana's knife. Just like Heath's "whoa whoa wait wait" and Tobi's cries met in the cool air. He brought his hands up to my arm, so I squeezed tighter and pushed the blade harder underneath his jawline.

If he tried to move I'd have to hurt him.

Santana eye's were wide I could tell she wanted to run from me, from the boys. I was just glad that Heath wasn't touching her anymore. But the other boy... Santana was squirming to pull her hands away from him.

"I suggest you let her go." Mark looked from me to Heath.

"Dude!" Despite Heath's plea the camera boy didn't move.

To prove my point, I lifted the blade to his sideburns and trailed a long shallow cut to the bottom of his ear.

Heath hissed and told the boy to let her go again.

The boy released Santana, and she scampered to my side covering herself with her arms.

"Now throw that in the river." My voice was low; there was only so much time I could buy threatening a life.

Without a second glance he took the five steps to the edge of the river and threw the camcorder into the water.

From there things got confusing. I thought that Santana was crouched next to me, but then I saw her behind the camera boy. Santana had picked up a log and smashed it over his head while he was still facing the river. He dropped limply onto the muddy bank.

She ran back over to me and decked Heath in the face twice. She tried to pull the knife from my hands, but I could only guess what she was going to do with it.

I shook my head, keeping my grip firm on both Heath and the knife.

"You're a fucking lucky bastard." She spat in his face and drew back her foot landing a solid kick into his groin. I let him fall out of my arms.

I stood taking one of Santana's hands in mine. She pulled me quickly in towards the steps, but I had one more thing to do.

Stepping up to him I lifted my foot above his head, crashing it into his skull, driving it down into the gravel. "Don't fuck with my girlfriend."

I closed the knife after wiping the blood on my shorts and pocketed it.

"Come on Britt!" Santana was a few paces away from me and we hurried back to camp, leaving the boys laying at the river side.

The fire died down, it was just a hot bed of embers. Puck and Quinn must have been sleeping in their tent by now. Santana jumped into our tent and reemerged with one of my shirts to replace her torn top.

I followed her over to Quinn's tent. She quickly unzipped the flap, while I issued the verbal warning "Quinn! Puck! Wake up!"

Groggily they sat up, wiping the sleep from their eyes trying to focus on our frantic shouts. I didn't even know what I was saying. They were just starting to realize that both me and Santana were covered in blood. But now wasn't the time for band-aids and hugs.

Santana got the message across. Rape, I stabbed someone, unconscious boys.

"We need to leave now!" Santana crawled out of Quinn's tent and ran back to ours, shoving things into our bags.

"You heard her right?" It was the kick to get them moving, mirroring Santana.

I stomped over to Santana. I was about to tell her to slow down, but time was not on our side. Who knew what those freaks were going to do when they came to.

Bruises started to form on her face, blood from cuts on her cheeks and lips still oozing. The sight almost made me want to run back to the river and bash their heads in with rocks. That was called venting right?

"Honey..." She thrust a bag into my arms carrying the other out of the tent.

"Baby, you can honey me later. We need to get the fuck out of here right now." She pushed past me to Puck's SUV. She was right, as much as I wanted to hold her in my arms right now, kiss away all the hurt, we had to run.

We deconstructed the camp much faster than we put it all together. Everything was thrown into the truck and we wasted no time with jumping in and speeding down the gravel road. Though it was much more crowded in the back seat with Santana, we didn't have time for Quinn's OCD and neat stacks.

Tension filled the cabin, the only sound was our combined ragged breaths.

I pulled Santana close to me, cradling her against me and stroking her matted hair. She was muttering something, not really words, just moving her lips against my neck. I wanted to say anything, to calm her down, restore her previous happiness.

Once we got out of the camp grounds and down the road a ways Puck broke the silence.

"Are you two going to tell us what fucking happened?" Puck looked back at us in the mirror wearing an expression I've never seen.

"Not now Puck! Just fucking drive!" I felt my mouth moving, but my voice sounded nothing like me. It caused me to flinch along with everyone else.

Quinn turned in her seat, staring at us with worried eyes. "Did... do we need to go to a hospital?"

I was pretty beaten up, but I didn't need a doctor. Santana on the other hand, I wasn't so sure of.

It was like I couldn't remember anything from the river. I barely remembered what happened to me, and all I could recall of San were her cries.

She was wedged against me, hot tears pouring from her onto me. I whispered in her ear, "are you... did they..." questions no one wants to ask the person they love. She sputtered in my neck shaking her head in the negative. I crushed her to me and let out a heavy grateful sigh to the gods.

"No... Just... Let's go home." Quinn was satisfied for now; there'd be a drill later I was sure. But now I just wanted to pretend that it was just me and Santana.

_|x|x|x|x|__|x|x|x|x|_

We drove through the darkness, hardly seeing another traveler on the road. Quinn passed out in the front seat; every so often she would make a funny little snore that would put a small smile on Puck's face. Santana worked herself into a light sleep, waking up every few minutes.

In one of her intervals she woke and I didn't notice. I was flipping the knife in my free hand, my right was wrapped around her keeping her close. I switch my gaze from the knife to the dry blood on my shorts. What if I had hurt him really bad? What if he...

"Brittany."

Santana pulled the knife from my loose grasp. She flicked the blade open, there was still a little bit of blood on the metal. I watched as she took the material of my shirt she was wearing and worked off the blood and then wiped the handle.

"Open the window." I did as she asked, the wind howled and pulled at my hair.

She threw the knife out the window. I saw the silver glint tumble into the ditch. Silently I put the window back up. Her arms curled around my neck eliciting a dull pain from my shoulder.

"Just in case." She dropped her head back down to my shoulder and pulled her legs over my lap. Everything hurt, my shoulder, face, neck, back, everything. But it would hurt more not having her in my arms.

"I'm sorry..." I don't know what I was apologizing for. Suggesting going down to the river? Not doing something sooner? Stabbing that boy, cutting the other one, they both deserved it. But it felt like I did something wrong.

"No." She gently tilted my head towards her. "Thank you, if you hadn't... I don't know what would of happened."

I nodded, staring into her face lit from the dim green glow of the truck's dash board that filtered into the back. Her face was marred, bloodied and bruised; but her eyes still stole the light and radiated her beauty. Then I felt better for doing what I did. If they would have caused her to lose her light, I don't even know.

Santana leaned forward halting my thoughts. Hovering her soft lips over mine. As she spoke her warm breath washed over my face and into my lungs, "you're my hero." She pressed her lightly against me, but it was enough to open the cuts on her lips as well as mine.

I wiped away the liquid with my thumb and she resettled against me quickly drifting off to sleep. I licked off my finger tasting the salty copper. I busied myself with gliding my hands over her legs in my lap. She always liked that, even if we were in school.

I shouldn't have second guessed her earlier. Santana was always right. I suppose I was a hero, hers at least.

Maybe that, and we were lucky she thought of my pockets like a second purse.

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**end**

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><p><strong>AN:<strong> I hope you guys liked it. I'm gonna get back to Contract Pending now.


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